Love in Taipei Review: A Cute Young Adult Romance That Needs More Charm
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Charm is one of the most important ingredients for a successful romantic movie. A charming romance makes you need these characters to end up together or you will question your sense of fate and destiny. Love in Taipei has cuteness in abundance but lacks the charm factor.
You enjoy watching these characters and this story unfold, but you don’t completely invest in either love story.
Overall, Love in Taipei feels more like a coming-of-age story than a romance movie, but romance plays such a key role in this movie that you can’t ignore it. This film very much feels like a classic teen romance movie.
The film establishes that Ever is 21, but the story has so many key teen movie elements that the age doesn’t matter. Therefore, that makes it hard to not compare this film to other similar popular teen movies and TV shows.
It isn’t quite up to the standards of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Heartstopper, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and Never Have I Ever. These films and TV shows show that there is still a high demand and appreciation for great teen-focused content. When done right, it can be nostalgic, fun, entertaining, and just good escapism.
Love in Taipei has the elements of a great teen movie (with 20-somethings) but just doesn’t have the charisma, uniqueness, and charm. It’s a very cute movie, similar to All the Boys I’ve Loved Before in tone, but Peter and Lara Jean change lives.
Ever and Xavier, or Ever and Rick, do not elicit the same level of investment.
Both Xavier and Rick are good matches for Ever. However, the film spends most of it developing one, while relying on the natural chemistry of another. Both her potential romances suffer from underdevelopment.
On paper, Rick seems like the perfect guy for Ever, especially since they can relate a lot, especially with their desire to please their families. However, the film throws in some conflict that just feels lackluster and not as grand of an issue as the film makes it.
Xavier and Ever share a lot of small moments throughout Love in Taipei but not enough to show why they could work long term. They have a natural pull towards one another because of their artistic passions and outsiderness, but what else?
Additionally, the film doesn’t seem certain about its final choice of Ever’s love interest. Most likely this is because Love in Taipei hopes to become a movie series (as it’s based on a book series). It doesn’t seem to completely want to close the door on either of her potential partners.
This is fine but the resolution leaves too much to be desired to feel satisfactory. Moreover, it feels like Ever picks the guy for now but not the guy for forever.
Of course, this makes sense with Love in Taipei’s theme of living in the moment. However, you still end the film wanting a bit more.
The movie has many strengths, such as the Taiwan scenery. Those shots of Taipei are so gorgeous and inviting. The film needs more of them.
Additionally, Love in Taipei briefly gets into the culture of Taipei but doesn’t embrace those elements enough. Those could have been more interweaved with Ever’s coming-of-age aspects.
Ever’s relationship with her Aunt Shu is also very heartwarming, especially with all Shu’s wisdom and insight.
Perhaps Love in Taipei does need more movies to fully develop because there are intriguing aspects in it, but they need more development and spark.
Love in Taipei is fine for some lighthearted young adult fun, but it’s not something that will change your life nor is it a complete teenage dream. It’s an okay film that could have been great if it strengthens some elements, like the romances.
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The film is directed by Arvin Chen, and the screenplay is by Charlie Oh and Mackenzie Dohr.
What did you think of Love in Taipei? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Love in Taipei streams on Paramount Plus on August 10th.
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What to Stream in August: Ahsoka, Heartstopper, Love in Taipei
Jerrica Tisdale
Jerrica Tisdale is your favorite neighborhood pop culture junkie. She will annoy you with random TV and film facts, while complaining about whatever is the hottest new book. She has been a TV fan all her life but writing about it for over a decade. You may find her work all over the internet especially reality TV rants. She is a senior writer at Tell-Tale TV.